Awww... Yeah -- You Know What Time it is....

Time to get-it-on with the Absolutely Shameless Self Promotion Post! At the risk of being a total hubris-riddled doucher, here's some friendly, pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top suggestions over some reading material to consider for the summer. And hey, one of these is a charity cookbook, so consider it your good deed of the month if you decide to purchase it! Let the Wasabi Prime Me-Show.... commence!

I fell in-to a burning ring of fire... and it was delicious - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Cocktails are good. Cocktails in a giant bowl-sized glass set on fire is exponentially good. My latest assignment for 425 Magazine's summer July/August issue was to track down some favorite summery cocktails, and I had to include Chantanee's menu of Tiki drink options. Bar manager, Evan Martin, was kind enough to set up a great cocktailian pastoral en fuego, to show off a classic Mai Tai and one of his own signature, award-winning creations, the Death in the Pacific, with the Brock Samson super-sized Tiki drinks served in giant punchbowls which are also available to order. Quite honestly, this is one of the only places I'll go to get a tropical frosty beverage; most places make their drinks with sugary syrups and fake fruit flavored liquors, but Chantanee literally takes the South Pacific and squeezes it into a glass. They're not the only place I list as having some really outstanding, refreshing cocktails, there's plenty more, but I won't spoil it; you're just gonna have to pick up the magazine to see what else made the cut. I think you'll find something that will wet yer whistle during the on-again/off-again days of sun we're getting in this funky Pacific Northwest summer.

Have your boozecake and eat it, too! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

What's more American than apple pie? Well, bourbon, of course. The latest issue of Drink Me magazine is out, aptly celebrating Americana. Just because we already celebrated Independence Day and nary a fighter-piloting Will Smith trying to get jiggy with aliens can be seen in sight, we can still have our apple corn cake with a whiskey caramel sauce and eat it, too. This was probably one of my favorite recipes I've developed for Drink Me so far, but probably one of the most re-worked ones. I originally started this as a skillet cake, sort of a cornmeal-based apple tartine. It was all right, but the cornmeal definitely adds weight to a baked good and I wanted it lighter, more spongey. I changed up the dry ingredients, added more wheat flour and leavening ingredients, and made mini-cakes, with an apple caramel-whiskey sauce on top. They're similar to a tartine in that the fruit and sauce topping are on the bottom of the baking container, the batter poured over, and once it's baked, you invert it so the good stuff is now the topping. Give it a whirl and pick up the latest issue or go online to see a digital copy.

This is as naked as it gets for Wasabi - check out my ample monitors! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I've of course been a promotion-storm over the newest blogger-contributed, independent-published cookbook, The Nudie Foodies, originally conceived by Seattle's own fabulous Salty Seattle. While I'm not in the book, I did have a hand in helping to bring the book to life as the designer of the book's overall look and layout. Proceeds from the book goes to AmeriCares, a charity providing humanitarian aid to those who needed it, most notably Japan, after the terrible disaster in March of this year. I realize the world is full of misfortune and bad things, and there's no shortage of need, which is exactly why even months after tragedy, the need for help is that much greater. While the news crews have moved on to other pressing issues, the people who are left in the aftermath of destruction still require aid. In the wake of sadness, The Nudie Foodies cookbook is the bright, shining, nude backside of a rainbow offering help with a cheeky smile. Tons of recipes, tons of artfully-covered famous bloggers -- what more could you ask for? And just think, for the culinary person in your life who has everything, why not give them a nude cookbook? It really is the gift that keeps on giving, so get yourself a copy or twelve on Blurb, the publisher of Nudie Foodies.

So, once again, many Wasabi Thanks for your gracious patience over yet another annoying edition of Why I'm so Freakin' Awesome. I of course don't really think I'm So Freakin' Awesome. Just grateful to be able to say I'm keeping busy and as Elvis Presley says: TKOB (Taking Care of Business).

Wasabi-nouncement: Shameless Self Promotion Time

'Twas the eve of a three day weekend and all through the 'burbs, not a creature was stirring... just a Wasabi trying to come up with catchy shameless self-promotional blurbs. Yeah, kind of rhymes... not really. Well, kids, you know what time it is... time for me to say how totally AWE-some I am, but in a please-dear-Lord-don't-take-me-serious kind of way. But I hope it inspires you to pick up some new reading material or potential gifts during your upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

Cocktail and dessert, all in one - Photo by Wasabi Prime, magazine now online/newsstands

Nothing says bathing suit season like... rich creamy banana-rum-coconut bread pudding and crispy, salty French Fries! I had the very rough gig of coming up with some favorite Eastside French Fry spots for the latest issue of 425 Magazine and for the island theme of the current printed and online issue of Drink Me magazine, I did a rum-soaked banana bread pudding, using coconut milk instead of dairy. I'm clearly the queen of health food. But seriously, these were probably some of my most favorite assignments to date. I'm the sick puppy who after watching Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me, about eating nothing but McDonalds food for a month, I still wanted fries afterwards. A fry-a-holic like me, tracking down favorite fries was like my Leaving Las Vegas moment. Viva! The rum-drunk bread pudding (don't worry, the alcohol burns off) was a real treat to make, and reminded me to always keep cans of coconut milk stocked in the pantry at all times, as it's such a great dairy swap-out for desserts. Do check out the recipe online, or better yet, subscribe to Drink Me and get a really well done cocktail magazine in your mailbox every two months.

Mmm... taters - Photo by Wasabi Prime

My other LOOK AT ME achievement is all a part of my calculated Machiavellian plan to overthrow the greeting card industry. OK, not so much. It's more like a side hobby that I do in the rare moments of spare time -- I make my own greeting cards. They're usually given as little presents, but sometimes I'm very lucky and they get sold as real gosh-darn products, like the kind souls at Lily, on Orcas Island.  Right now, there's a stack of these totes-adorbs Bento Notecards just waiting for someone like you to pick up and give to your Spam Musubi-loving friends. Because who doesn't want anthropomorphized Hawaiian comfort food smiling at you with kind sayings? They're pretty weird and cute, no? Who wants a generic warm n' fuzzy 'hello' when you can say it with a smiling wonton sitting on saimin? My thoughts exactly. So when you're on your three-day weekend jaunt to Orcas Isle, head over to Lily for ice cream, snacks and smiling food notecards. And head upstairs to book a reservation at Allium and help 'em celebrate their 1st year anniversary -- Happy Birthday, Allium!!

Write a note. Your mom will be happy - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I joke around a lot, but I really and truly am grateful for all these opportunities to do what I enjoy -- which is a little bit o' everything -- as a means to eke out a living. And while I'm not in love with the self-promotional aspect, I get that it's just part of being one's own boss, so I appreciate your patience with these periodic LOOK AT ME! posts and hope that if nothing else, it gives you some ideas over what to pick out on the newsstands or in stores. As always, much thanks to everyone -- to you, the Awesomesauce readers, the people who are letting me run rampant in the publishing world and the folks letting me take up space on their shelves. And a BIG THANKS to the men and women serving in our armed forces, as well as veterans -- we would not be able to enjoy this three day weekend without your honor and sacrifice. 

Wasabi-nouncement: It's Official. I'm a Workaholic.

I normally don't do Friday posts, but usually I try and take the time to do periodic updates over what I've been doing outside of the blog, also known as SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION POST! Which, along with this post totally being that, I'm just checking in the with universe to see if everyone else is workin' like a crazy mofo too??

A portrait of Wasabi's brain on the last few months - crazy photo collage by Wasabi Prime

I don't really have a prettier way of showing what the Wasabi Life has been looking like over the last few months. This helpful diagram is probably the most informative way to illustrate the flowchart that inevitably leads to magenta scribbles floating around my unwashed, in-dire-need-of-a-haircut noggin. Not that I'm saying I'm miserable -- far from it. I'm just letting you know, apologies in advance if I just need to lay down an nap for a while, because it's been busy and it continues to remain busy as I hurdle through the week's deadlines with gazelle-like grace and fury. OK maybe no grace or fury. More like awkward stumbling and much swearing like a sailor.

But if you feel so inclined to see what I've been up to, you can take a gander at the latest menagerie of Wasaberie:

• Grab the latest copy of 425 Magazine, the spring health-themed issue that includes an article I wrote, listing some favorite salads around the 425 area code.
• Also on local newsstands and online - the spring issue of Bellevue Downtown Magazine, where I shot the cover and wrote a feature about new restaurant openings
• If you live in the Bay Area, grab a copy of Drink Me Magazine, or check it out online - I regularly develop booze-a-riffic themed recipes for them
• Speaking of recipe development, I worked on a tasty mini lamb burger with the folks at MySpiceSage, to show how you can use sumac in cooking
• And last, but certainly not least, I'm happy to say I'm a regular contributing writer at new online food magazine, Honest Cooking, and I have a monthly column called Sense Memory

I've been extremely lucky to work on these projects and I'm very grateful to have been given the chance to write about and photograph the things I love. I just happened to see the calendar, realize it's the first of April, and I know I'll feel like much less of a workin' fool if I know everyone else is doing the same crazy stuff every day to keep following their bliss, 24/7, never beggin' for a raincheck, as the sage wisdom of Fred Durst of  Limp Bizkit would say. So, Sanity Check time: everyone else is multitasking, doing a minimum of three different jobs, and flitting around like a hummingbird from project to project... right? People are nodding. I'm sure of it. Safety in numbers.

So as we enter this realm called "The Weekend," and I hope to partake in some of its weekending goodness in the form of a frosty alcoholic beverage (or three), I leave you with another little glimpse into my sorry excuse for what I do in my spare time. Because even when I'm doing something as granny-tastic as embroidery, I still can't stay away from food. I'm either one step away from a recovery clinic or an Etsy shop, whatever comes first.

Even when  I'm crafting, it's still food-related. Help me. Someone. Before it's too late. - Photo by Wasabi Prime